The Mahogany Book
by Jasper Annalise
Summary: Takes place after 7th book Epilogue. Scorpius is in 3rd year and likes going to the library in the morning. There he finds a tempermental Ravenclaw and a small, mahogany book. ScorpiusRose
1. Chapter 1

The Mahogany Book

Chapter One: An early Encounter

Scorpius Malfoy rose from his seat at his Gryffindor house table. He waved a slight goodbye to his friend, Marshal Thomas, and headed off to the library for a bit of studying before lessons. His third year was halfway into the first semester and he didn't want to get behind on the difficult work the teachers were assigning.

Scorpius may have received his father, Draco Malfoy's, looks and ambition, but the rest of his personality was from his mother, a foreign witch from France by the name of Jacqueline DuPont. She was witty and smart and daring; she had, after all, been the one to introduce herself to his father. That's the reason that neither of his parents had been surprised when he wrote home to tell them he had become a Gryffindor.

He walked swiftly down the corridors toward the library. Barely anyone was out of the dorms or the Great Hall this early in the morning; that's why he loved coming to the library at that time.

He turned a corner and finally saw the library entrance. He smiled slightly and opened the doors. Immediately the smell of dust and parchment filled his nose. He breathed in deeply and closed the doors behind him. Then he heard a frantic rustling and the thumping of fallen books. He hurried to that section of the library, prepared to defend the books from and intruder like Peeves. He was surprised when he rounded a bookshelf and found, not Peeves, but a small girl.

She had wavy reddish-brown hair and flushed cheeks. She looked no older than thirteen herself and had on Ravenclaw robes. Her cheeks were flushed, but he couldn't see her eyes, which were closed in frustration.

"Excuse me?" he asked the girl. She jumped at the sound of his voice and opened her eyes. They were the most amazing blue he had ever seen. She hastily wiped the un-fallen tears from them.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" she snapped at him. Apparently she had the temper that all Ravenclaws were famous for.

"What were you doing? I heard books falling and thought someone was causing trouble." She continued to stare at him. "Do you want help with whatever you were doing?"

"No, I don't want any help!" she snapped again. She rose to meet him face-to-face. Her hands on her hips and her face in a frown, she said, "I don't need any help from a stupid Gryffindor like you! I was doing perfectly fine on my own!" As she said that, she poked him in the chest so hard it was already bruising. He stepped backwards out of her reach.

"Fine, I'll just leave then." He turned and walked toward a table a long way from the girl, rubbing his chest as he did so. He could hear the haughty, temperamental girl shuffling the books behind him. He sat his book bag down on the table and turned to the shelves to find a book on third year charms. He raked the shelves but didn't find it. He did, however, find a small, mahogany-colored book that didn't have a title. He plucked it off the shelf and walked back to the table. He opened the cover and saw a name neatly scrawled on the inside: _R__ose__ W__easley_. He knew a few Weasleys and wondered if they knew this Rose girl. He decided he would ask around later that day in the common room.

The warning bell for classes rang out loud in the library. Scorpius jumped at the sound and gathered up his things. He saw the Ravenclaw girl shoot past him, still flustered but refusing to be late for a lesson. Scorpius followed her out of the library and away to his first lesson of the day.

Scorpius made it through double Potions with his Slytherin friend, Albus Potter. They had met on the train their first year and had been friends ever since. They knew their parents didn't approve of the other's, but that didn't concern them.

Lunch was the usual affair of loud talking and stuffed mouths. Scorpius sat at the Slytherin table with Albus that day. Since the last Dark Wizard was conquered, the houses had grown closer and were often seen sitting at other tables during breakfast and lunch.

After lunch was Care of Magical Creatures with the Hufflepuffs. It also passed quickly, Professor Hagrid talking about something undoubtedly dangerous that they would have to handle. Scorpius was distracted with thoughts of the small book in his bag. He wondered who Rose Weasley was, if she was in his year, what she looked like, and what house she was in. He wondered if she was thinking about her lost possession as much as he was.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the bell for next lessons ring. Thankfully, Marshal was in Care of Magical Creatures with him and shook him vigorously by the shoulder to warn him of being late. Scorpius snapped out of it and almost sprinted to Transfiguration. The Ravenclaws shared this class with them and he spotted the girl he had seen in the library. Her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere during the whole lesson. Scorpius watched her slightly and noticed she still diligently took notes in her distracted state. He smiled and turned his attention back to the teacher.

Later, Scorpius was in the Gryffindor common room, lounging by the fire. He knew he wouldn't be able to work with all the noise around him, that's another reason he always visited the library in the mornings. Thinking of the library reminded him of the Mahogany book squashed in between his Transfiguration and Potions texts in his bag. He reached in and extracted it, once again looking at the name inside. He jumped out of his comfortable chair and searched the room for Fred Weasley, son of George and Katie Weasley.

His searched took him awhile because it was after dinner and all the upper years were still in the room. Eventually he saw the shock of red hair and pushed his way through the crowd to get to him.

"Fred. Fred!" he shouted over the noise. Fred turned toward him, looking over Scorpius' head before locating the younger boy.

"Oh! Hi, Scorpius. What can I do for you?" Fred asked, also shouting over the noise.

"Do you know anyone named Rose Weasley?"

"What? I can't hear you!"

"DO YOU KNOW ROSE WEASLEY?" Scorpius shouted as the noise slightly died down. He flushed when everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh, yeah. She's my cousin. I think she's in Ravenclaw. Your year, too."

"Thanks, Fred," Scorpius said as he turned back toward where he was sitting before. Unsurprisingly, the seat was now filled with and older student's body. Scorpius gathered his things and left the Common Room to the boy's dorms. He would have to find this 'Rose' girl tomorrow. For now, he was tired.


	2. Chapter 2

The Mahogany Book

Chapter Two: Glares

Scorpius awoke early the next day, as usual. Though it was Saturday, he still went straight for the library. When he arrived, the doors were still locked. He looked at his watch, an excellently designed thing passed down to him from his mother's father, and realized the doors wouldn't open for another hour. He must have woken up earlier than usual. It didn't matter to him, though. He would return in an hour and in the mean time he would go down to the kitchens. They were the one thing in the school that didn't ever close.

The walk down five floors didn't take that long if you knew where you were going. Fortunately for Scorpius, he knew the easiest and fastest way to get down there, having made many of these early-morning excursions.

Scorpius slid off the last banister and whistled as he walked down the corridor. He passed many different paintings of food until he came to the one of the fruit bowl. He stretched out his hand so he could tickle the pear when the painting suddenly swung outward. His fast seeker reflexes were the only things that kept him from being hit in the face. But he still lost his balance and fell over as a girl came out.

"Hey! Watch it next time!" Scorpius said from his position on the floor.

"Oh, well I'm _sorry_ that you lost your balance. Maybe you should be more careful yourself." The girl's voice was sarcastic and angry at being yelled at. He looked at her more closely.

"Oh, it's you. The Ravenclaw with the bad attitude." He sneered at her, something that rarely happened. He knew his father sneered all the time at school, but Scorpius was normally a bit nicer than that.

"Yes, it's me, the girl you so rudely interrupted in the library yesterday. I would have hoped that you had learnt some manners by now. Obviously not." She turned and stalked away, head held high. Scorpius began to get angry at her comments. It took all of his self restraint to not run over there and throttle her. Instead he stood up, dusted off his jeans, and walked into the kitchen.

Scorpius ate his breakfast at one of the tables in the kitchen. He sat fuming over his eggs, thinking about the girl. He didn't know what her problem was. All he had done yesterday was ask if she wanted help. Maybe it was that 'special' time of the month for her. His dad had told him that sometimes girls got really moody for a week every month. Scorpius decided then and there that he was going to try to avoid the girl for the rest of the week, and then see what she was like. Considerably happier with his resolution, he ate his breakfast in peace.

When he got back up to the library, the doors were still closed. He checked his watch again and noticed that it was only three more minutes until the doors would open. It was useless to go anywhere for such short a time, so he sat down next to the oak doors and waited. No sooner had he positioned himself comfortably on his bag than the mysterious girl came to the doors as well. He smiled politely and didn't say anything when she glared at him. As soon as her back was to him, he dropped his façade and glared at her back. They spent the few minutes thoroughly ignoring each other.

The moment the doors clicked, indicating they were unlocked, she pushed them open and ran in. The doors swung open so hard that they splintered as they hit the walls. Scorpius rose from his makeshift seat and looked over at Madame Pince, the librarian. He remembered that his dad had told him that she had been there when he was a student, and also when grandfather was a student. In fact, no one knew how long she had really been there.

She looked angry. She examined the damage to the doors with a deep frown and looked over at him, glaring as she did so. He shrugged and said, "Wasn't me. Ask her," as he pointed in the general direction the girl had run. He went and sat at a secluded table and heard the sounds of the girl being reprimanded. He smirked and looked through his bag for his homework. Instead, he found a small book. He pulled it out and realized it was the diary he had found yesterday. Again he opened the cover and saw the name. Maybe if he wrote a letter to her he could give it back.

He pulled out a slip of parchment and began to write. A few minutes later he had folded it up and walked off to the owlery. The letter read:

_Dear Ms. Rose Weasley,_

_I was in the library on Friday and happened to come across a small mahogany diary of sorts. Don't worry, I only opened it enough to discover the owner. If you would like to meet me somewhere or if you'd like me to leave it somewhere for you please write back with this owl. He'll know where to find me._

_Sincerely, Scorpius Draconis Malfoy_

He tied the letter to his eagle-owl Persephone. The regal bird gave him a small nip of affection and flew out of the window, in search of the unknown girl named Rose.

The rest of Scorpius's day was spent doing his homework and talking with friends. He left some time in the evening before dinner to fly on the quidditch pitch. Inevitably, he was joined by Marshal and Albus. They had a good time playing a very dangerous game of tag. Sometimes they wished that there was another boy that was willing to enjoy the company of two Gryffindors and a Slytherin so they could play two on two quidditch, but there was no one. Not everyone was as accepting as they were.

At dinner, Persephone flew down to Scorpius, who was sitting with Albus and Marshal at the Slytherin table. They didn't want to split up and lose their happiness, and Albus was more often than not coming to their table. So Scorpius unfurled the parchment to find a short note from the Rose girl.

_Dear Mr. Scorpius Malfoy,_

_I would love if you would meet me in the library after dinner to return my diary._

_Thank you, Rose Weasley_

The guys pestered him about who the letter was from, and when he told them it was from a girl, they roared with laughter and made fun of him having a girl friend. He ignored their remarks and ate the rest of his dinner before rising and bidding his friends ado. There was a meeting he had to attend.


End file.
